Odds

I’m a big fan of odds, of sizing things up using the blinding light of logic and indisputable force of math. Math brooks no argument, unlike its sissy cousin, statistics which brooks nothing but argument, however I digress.

From Frontline;

The odds of winning the California Super Lotto Jackpot are 1 in 18 million. For some perspective, it is three times more likely for a person driving ten miles to buy a Lotto ticket to be killed in a car accident than to win the jackpot. As a matter of fact you are much more likely to die in a myriad of esoteric ways than to ever come close to winning the lottery (or lotto) such as being killed by flesh-eating bacteria (1 in 1 million), a lightning strike (1 in 30,000) or cancer from eating a peanut butter sandwich a day (1 in 5,000) which sort of begs the question, peanut butter causes cancer? If you like to gamble you might try your luck at roulette where it is eight times more likely that the same number will come up four times consecutively than it is you will win the Lotto Jackpot

Surprisingly, it is only 62 times more likely to die from ignition or melting of nightwear (1 in 286,537) than it is to win the Lotto Jackpot.